Saturday, 22 September 2012

Next week will be a pretty intense one for Roman pottery specialists, since the 28th biannual Congress of the Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores will take place in Catania, in the shadow of Mt. Etna.
For those who are not acquainted with this organisation, the RCRF is the largest (and most authoritative) international society specialising in the field of Roman pottery.

This year's congress is titled "From broken pottery to lost identity in Roman times" and it features 47 talks and 91 posters. Among these, quite a few will deal with Roman pottery in Campania; here it is a (hopefully) complete list. Please note that you can read the abstract of Apolline Project's talk (i.e. Martucci-De Simone-D'Italia), here on academia.edu.

J.T. PeÑa, The Pompeii Artifact Life History Project: Conceptual background
and first season’s results.

C.S. Martucci - G.F. De Simone - S. D’Italia, Late Antique local productions
between Vesuvius and the Apennines.

Friday, 21 September 2012

Date for your UK diaries: 1 October.
Chance to see Andrew Wallace-Hadrill talking about Herculaneum and his latest book at the Lichfield Literary Festival:

"In AD 79, the volcano Vesuvius erupted, burying the cities of Pompeii
and Herculaneum under ash and rock, and leaving them remarkably well
preserved for centuries. While Pompeii has been extensively written
about and popularized, the remains of its sister city, a smaller yet
wealthier community close to the sea, are less widely known, but they
have yielded spectacular archaeological evidence.
Herculaneum is based on the latest excavation work and incorporates
much new material that has revolutionized our understanding of the site.
It is the definitive overview of what we know and understand about
Herculaneum, of what is still unknown and mysterious, and of the
potential for future discoveries in both archaeological and political
contexts."

Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum

28 March – 29 September 2013Reading RoomSponsored by Goldman Sachs

In Spring 2013 the British Museum will present a
major exhibition on the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum,
sponsored by Goldman Sachs. This exhibition will be the first ever held
on these important cities at the British Museum, and the first such
major exhibition in London for almost 40 years. It is the result of
close collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Naples
and Pompeii, will bring together over 250 fascinating objects, both
recent discoveries and celebrated finds from earlier excavations. Many
of these objects have never before been seen outside Italy. The
exhibition will have a unique focus, looking at the Roman home and the
people who lived in these ill-fated cities.

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum said "This will be a
major exhibition for the British Museum in 2013, made possible through
collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and
Pompeii which has meant extremely generous loans of precious objects
from their collections, some that have never travelled before. I am
delighted that Goldman Sachs is sponsoring this important exhibition and
am extremely grateful to them for their support."
"It is a privilege to be partnering with the British Museum for this
incredibly exciting exhibition, which offers a fascinating insight into
daily life at the heart of the Roman Empire", said Richard Gnodde, Co
Chief executive of Goldman Sachs International. "We recognize the
importance of supporting cultural platforms such as this and we are
delighted to offer our support to help bring this unique experience to
London."
Pompeii and Herculaneum, two cities on the Bay of Naples in southern
Italy, were buried by a catastrophic volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius
in just 24 hours in AD 79. This event ended the life of the cities but
at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists
nearly 1700 years later. The excavation of these cities has given us
unparallelled insight into Roman life.
Owing to their different locations Pompeii and Herculaneum were
buried in different ways and this has affected the preservation of
materials at each site. Herculaneum was a small seaside town whereas
Pompeii was the industrial hub of the region. Work continues at both
sites and recent excavations at Herculaneum have uncovered beautiful and
fascinating artefacts. These include treasures many of which will be
displayed to the public for the first time, such as finely sculpted
marble reliefs, intricately carved ivory panels and fascinating objects
found in one of the main drains of the city.
The exhibition will give visitors a taste of the daily life of the
people of Pompeii and Herculaneum, from the bustling street to the
family home. The domestic space is the essential context for people’s
lives, and allows us to get closer to the Romans themselves. This
exhibition will explore the lives of individuals in Roman society, not
the classic figures of films and television, such as emperors,
gladiators and legionaries, but businessmen, powerful women, freed
slaves and children. One stunning example of this material is a
beautiful wall painting from Pompeii showing the baker Terentius Neo and
his wife, holding writing materials showing they are literate and
cultured. Importantly their pose and presentation suggests they are
equal partners, in business and in life.
The emphasis on a domestic context also helps transform museum
artefacts into everyday possessions. Six pieces of wooden furniture will
be lent from Herculaneum in an unprecedented loan by the Archaeological
Superintendency of Napels and Pompeii. These items were carbonized by
the high temperatures of the ash that engulfed the city and are
extremely rare finds that would not have survived at Pompeii – showing
the importance of combining evidence from the two cities. The furniture
includes a linen chest, an inlaid stool and even a garden bench. Perhaps
the most astonishing and moving piece is a baby’s crib that still rocks
on its curved runners.
The exhibition will include casts from in and around Pompeii of some
of the victims of the eruption. A family of two adults and their two
children are huddled together, just as in their last moments under the
stairs of their villa. The most famous of the casts on display is of a
dog, fixed forever at the moment of its death as the volcano submerged
the cities.
Sponsored by Goldman Sachs
In collaboration with Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei

Notes to editors

An accompanying publication is available from March 2013 by British Museum Press: Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum,
by Paul Roberts. A magnificent illustrated book offering a unique
perspective on the everyday lives of the citizens of Pompeii and
Herculaneum. Hardback, £45, paperback £25.

Follow updates on the exhibition via Twitter on #PompeiiExhibition and the Museum’s Twitter account @britishmuseum.

A full public programme accompanies the exhibition. More information is available from the press office.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global
investment banking, securities and investment management firm that
provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and
diversified client base that includes corporations, financial
institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Founded in
1869, the firm maintains offices in all major financial centers around
the world, including London, which today represents our largest
population outside of our headquarters in New York.

In the UK, Goldman Sachs has most recently
sponsored the Tate Modern’s Miro and Henry Moore exhibitions and the
Royal Academy of Art’s The Three Emperors exhibition.

Contacts

For further information please contact the Press Office on +44 (0)20 7323 8394 / 8583 or communications@britishmuseum.org
For high resolution images go to picselect.com register for free and find the British Museum under Arts.
For public information please print britishmuseum.org/pompeii or +44 (0)20 7323 8181.

Today we've finally had the formal announcement of the exhibition 'Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum' that will take place at the British Museum from 28 March – 29 September 2013. More information will follow on Blogging Pompeii before the exhibition opens, but in the meantime this is the press release:

Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum 28 March – 29 September 2013Reading RoomSponsored by Goldman Sachs

In collaboration with Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei

In Spring 2013 the British Museum will present a major exhibition on the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, sponsored by Goldman Sachs. This exhibition will be the first ever held on these important cities at the British Museum, and the first such major exhibition in London for almost 40 years. It is the result of close collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and Pompeii, will bring together over 250 fascinating objects, both recent discoveries and celebrated finds from earlier excavations. Many of these objects have never before been seen outside Italy. The exhibition will have a unique focus, looking at the Roman home and the people who lived in these ill-fated cities.

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum said "This will be a major exhibition for the British Museum in 2013, made possible through collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and Pompeii which has meant extremely generous loans of precious objects from their collections, some that have never travelled before. I am delighted that Goldman Sachs is sponsoring this important exhibition and am extremely grateful to them for their support."

"It is a privilege to be partnering with the British Museum for this incredibly exciting exhibition, which offers a fascinating insight into daily life at the heart of the Roman Empire", said Richard Gnodde, Co Chief executive of Goldman Sachs International. "We recognize the importance of supporting cultural platforms such as this and we are delighted to offer our support to help bring this unique experience to London."

Pompeii and Herculaneum, two cities on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy, were buried by a catastrophic volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in just 24 hours in AD 79. This event ended the life of the cities but at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists nearly 1700 years later. The excavation of these cities has given us unparallelled insight into Roman life.

Owing to their different locations Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried in different ways and this has affected the preservation of materials at each site. Herculaneum was a small seaside town whereas Pompeii was the industrial hub of the region. Work continues at both sites and recent excavations at Herculaneum have uncovered beautiful and fascinating artefacts. These include treasures many of which will be displayed to the public for the first time, such as finely sculpted marble reliefs, intricately carved ivory panels and fascinating objects found in one of the main drains of the city.

The exhibition will give visitors a taste of the daily life of the people of Pompeii and Herculaneum, from the bustling street to the family home. The domestic space is the essential context for people’s lives, and allows us to get closer to the Romans themselves. This exhibition will explore the lives of individuals in Roman society, not the classic figures of films and television, such as emperors, gladiators and legionaries, but businessmen, powerful women, freed slaves and children. One stunning example of this material is a beautiful wall painting from Pompeii showing the baker Terentius Neo and his wife, holding writing materials showing they are literate and cultured. Importantly their pose and presentation suggests they are equal partners, in business and in life.

The emphasis on a domestic context also helps transform museum artefacts into everyday possessions. Six pieces of wooden furniture will be lent from Herculaneum in an unprecedented loan by the Archaeological Superintendency of Napels and Pompeii. These items were carbonized by the high temperatures of the ash that engulfed the city and are extremely rare finds that would not have survived at Pompeii – showing the importance of combining evidence from the two cities. The furniture includes a linen chest, an inlaid stool and even a garden bench. Perhaps the most astonishing and moving piece is a baby’s crib that still rocks on its curved runners.

The exhibition will include casts from in and around Pompeii of some of the victims of the eruption. A family of two adults and their two children are huddled together, just as in their last moments under the stairs of their villa. The most famous of the casts on display is of a dog, fixed forever at the moment of its death as the volcano submerged the cities.

The exhibition curator has written a book to accompany the exhibition and this will be available from March 2013: Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, by Paul Roberts, British Museum Press.

Follow updates on the exhibition via Twitter on #PompeiiExhibition and the Museum’s Twitter account @britishmuseum.

The Friends of Herculaneum Society (www.herculaneum.ox.ac.uk) is pleased to sponsor a lecture by Prof. Dr. Oliver Primavesi, Professor of Greek Philology in the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, on "Winckelmann in Portici 1762: The Discovery of the Polychromy of Greek Sculpture".

The lecture will take place on Saturday 13 October at 4:00 p.m. in the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles, Oxford, and will be followed by a reception. All are very welcome.

The Apolline Project has been very busy this month! Congratulations to all project members on a successful season! There are several newspaper articles about their discoveries on the dark side of Vesuvius:

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

The Pomigliano Jazz Festival is the largest annual jazz event in Campania and one of the most renowned in Italy. Most importantly, the Festival is becoming a way to promote heritage and environment in the Neapolitan countryside.

The Festival begins tonight with a concert by Incognito and Mario Biondi at the Roman amphitheatre at Avella and continues with other events at the Medici castle in Ottaviano and at the early Christian churches in Cimitile.
Sharing the same vision of alternative tourism and holistic promotion of cultural heritage, the Apolline Project now partners with the Pomigliano Jazz Festival to promote the archaeological sites on the northern slope of Vesuvius. Next Sunday, tours will depart from Naples to visit the archaeological sites, the side cones of Vesuvius, castles, monasteries, and the rich vineyards.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

The second issue of Amoenitas, the journal on Roman Villas published by the Istituto Poligrafico Zecca dello Stato, is finally out. This issue encompasses several articles on Vesuvian villas (click on the pictures below to read the table of contents).
The journal can be bought here, send a message to info@apollineproject.org if you want to receive a copy of Martucci et alii's contribution on the pottery assemblage from the villa with baths of Pollena Trocchia.

Monday, 17 September 2012

Roccarainola - On Saturday, 15 September the Apolline Project presented the findings of their 2011-12 excavation seasons from the Medieval Church (built with Roman spolia) of Sant'Arcangelo to the general populace of the town at the Museum of Roccarainola.

The conference panel featured the director of the excavation, Nicola De Carlo, the project's ceramic anaylist, Vincenzo Castaldo, in addition to the project's anthropologist, Amanda James. Underlying the presentation was the expressed need for the general populace of Roccarainola to gain a more spirited understanding of their region's history and a valuable perspective into the the lives of their predecessors. Conference participants appreciated an enthusiastic audience as well as a thought provoking question and answer session following the presentation.

Further information on the Roman Villa and the Medieval Church can be found here. An overview of the bone remains is provided here.

Thursday, 13 September 2012

In the common effort to create stronger connections among the scholars working on the Nolan countryside, next week there will be a two-days conference titled "Territorio e Archeologia - Contributi per lo studio dell'Ager Nolanus". Details are provided in the pictures below (click to enlarge).

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

The 14th of September at 6.30pm there will be the Second Annual Conference of the Oplontis Project, in the "Ernesto Cesaro" Public Library of Torre Annunziata.
Professor Giovanni Di Maio, geologist, is hosting the meeting, which this year is entitled "Studi stratigrafici nel territorio di Torre Annunziata".

For those who don't yet know about this exciting new project, which is currently in the field:

Pompeii Aerial Survey Project

Project AimThe aim of our project is to test the application of aerial
drone technology in the documentation and survey of built structures in an
archaeological context (Pompeii) against traditional methods of architectural
investigation. Our project is carried out in collaboration and with the support
of two existing projects which have been working for a number of years on the
site at Pompeii: the Expeditio Pompeiana Universitatis Helsingiensis and from
the University of Helsinki (Finland) and Pistrina: les boulangeries de l'Italie
romaine of the École française de Rome. The former of these projects has been
working at Pompeii for approximately 10 years studying the Casa di Marco
Lucrezio and other properties of insula IX, 3 while the latter aims to provide a
comprehensive re-examination of all of Pompeii’s bakeries (pistrina). Our
project is generously sponsored by Landinspektørfirmaet LE34 A/S (Copenaghen)
and with very kind permission of the Soprintendenza Speciali per i Beni
Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei.

Our MethodologyWe use a remote-controlled aerial drone to take
geo-referenced digital photographs (see attached). These photographs will then
be developed to create 3D panoramas, ortho-photos and a 3D model of insula IX, 3
and a selection of Pompeii’s bakeries. We will also employ a laser scanner in
order to provide a framework for the digital model. This model will then be
fully integrated with, and will complement the surveys conducted by the projects
already indicated. It is hoped that this methodology will not only allow us to
survey the structures in a far more rapid and detailed way than has previously
been possible but which will also potentially establish a new methodology for
architectural survey that would be of use to other archaeological projects at
Pompeii or elsewhere. Finally, besides the highly detailed 3D digital model, it
is hoped that the drone will allow us to provide us with unique images and
previously unrealized perspectives of a part of Pompeii’s standing
remains!

The Drones!Our aerial drones (see attached) offer a
previously unparalleled opportunity to remotely and quickly survey standing
structures. The drone typically flies for 8-10 minutes at a time and it can
follow a pre-programmed set route or altitude and it will come back to you at
the press of a button and its flight can be followed by a small inbuilt camera.
The attached camera can take HD photographs or films including 360 degree
recordings. The drone has several gyroscopes and GPS on board that keep it in
position and it handles winds automatically. These features enable the drone to
take geo-referenced HD photographs, accurate down to 0.01 m accuracy, which are
simply impossible from traditional balloon-based cameras or other aerial survey
methods. As the drone can take many hundreds of photographs in a single flight
our method also allows us to complete the photogrammetric survey far more
rapidly than by a traditional hand-held method, which can be highly
time-consuming. Moreover, these features also allow the drone to maintain a
controlled, safe and consistent position even in windy conditions!

We are in the field conducting our survey now and will be posting a daily
blog from Pompeii on our Facebook site (see below) and then publishing the
development and results of the models in due course. We are really excited
about this project; to my knowledge, this technology has never been employed at
Pompeii before!

I hope you find this interesting too and if you would like to know any more
please just drop us a line.

Thursday, 6 September 2012

For those of you in the general vicinity of Nashville, TN (that's in the USA), I will be giving a lecture on October 2 called "The Archaeology of Sculpture Collecting Around the Bay of Naples," with a focus on domestic contexts. The lecture is free and open to the public and will be held inside the Nashville Parthenon (so a 2-for-1 on getting your Hellenic and Roman worlds covered in one evening).Thanks for circulating this info! I will try to share the paper and presentation after the lecture.

And a PS just for Jo: Yes, I know that is a photo from a staged excavation, but I just couldn't resist!

Ticket: £40 (ticket price includes tea/coffee & biscuits in the afternoon and morning breaks, but does not include lunch).

The lecturer: Dr Paul Roberts is Curator of Roman Art and Archaeology at the British Museum, and Curator of next year’s Pompeii and Herculaneum – Life and Death in the Roman Empire exhibition at the British Museum. His research focuses on aspects of the daily life of the ordinary people of the Roman world. He has excavated in Italy, Greece, Libya and Turkey. He co-directs the excavations at Forum Novum, north of Rome.

The lectures: Ordinary Cities, Extraordinary Events: Public life of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

At Home with the Romans: Domestic Life in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Life and Death. Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Cities come to London.

Ancient Store Rooms, New Discoveries. Behind the Scenes and the Making of the Exhibition.

What to expect: In AD 79 two cities on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy were buried by a catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Preserved deep under the ash the cities of Vesuvius and Herculaneum provide one of the most remarkable, immediate and moving glimpses of the Roman world. There are stately public buildings, such as theatres and baths, streets filled with shops and bars and houses of all shapes and sizes from luxurious mansions to flats above shops. Sculptures of emperors, gods and benefactors, inscriptions, electoral notices and graffiti filled the streets. In the houses were stunning mosaics and wall paintings showing everything from mythological scenes to still life, and sex, as well as jewellery, objects of silver, glass and even wooden furniture miraculously preserved. Most importantly there were the ordinary people of Pompeii and Herculaneum, their lives, their loves and their deaths on that fateful day in August AD79. Many of the beautiful (and ordinary) household objects from the cities will be brought to London for a major exhibition in 2013. As part of our study day we will also look at the exhibition itself, including new discoveries from Herculaneum, shown in London for the first time, and the world behind the scenes, putting together the exhibition.

From www.arborsapientiae.com, news that Garcia y Garcia's 1998 Nova Bibliotheca Pompeiana is to be digitised. Scholars who have noticed errors in that original publication are encouraged to send corrections to Garcia y Garcia at garciaygarcial@yahoo.com. It's not clear to me whether this new digitised bibliography will be offered free of charge or whether we'll have to pay to use it. Readers should note that a similar bibliographic tool is currently being developed by Eric Poehler at Pompeiana.org.

I was on holiday at the end of August and completely missed this great advertising campaign by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, which is about to host the 'A Day in Pompeii' exhibition (from September 14th). Here's the description from the Huffington Post:

Over the weekend, an ancient Roman came to life on Twitter to recount
the final hours of the city of Pompeii before Mount Vesuvius erupted
and buried the Roman city and all of its residents in ash.
In real-time and exactly 1,933 years after the eruption, Pliny the
Elder -- a Roman scholar and commender of the Roman fleet at Misenum who
took command of the city's evacuation in August, 79 AD and died trying
to rescue a friend and his family from the disaster -- was resurrected,
if only briefly and digitally, to tell the tale as it happened from 10
a.m. on Friday, Aug. 24 until 6:55 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25 when his
final tweet was posted.
Pliny the Elder's first tweet went out on Wednesday before the eruption:

To which, some of the Elder's nearly 5,000 followers tweeted "Run!"
and "Leave now!!" 25 tweets follow, bringing history back to life as the
Elder Pliny describes the scene in Pompeii as things turn from bad to
worse. Each tweet is accompanied by a link back to an interactive website with photos and more information about Pliny the Elder's whereabouts during those fateful hours in August of 79 AD.
The tweets are based on the final hours of Pliny the Elder's life as
told by his nephew and heir, Pliny the Younger, who obtained an account
of his Uncle's death from the survivors and told the story in a letter to Tacitus, a senator and historian of the Roman Empire. Read Pliny the Younger's letter to Tacitus here, historians believe that the Younger wrote the letter to Tacitus nearly thirty years after the tragedy occurred.
The novel Twitter campaign was launched by The Denver Museum of Nature & Science in preparation for their upcoming exhibit
focused on the ancient Roman city which opens Sept. 14. Called "A Day
in Pompeii," the exhibit will display some of the hundreds of artifacts
that were unearthed when the city was rediscovered in the early 1700s.

Follow this link to the article to see all of the tweets. The exhibition is at Denver until January 13th 2013. Check out the exhibition website here. There is also an accompanying interactive exhibition website that uses Google Maps - you can explore Pompeii, read descriptions of certain buildings and see objects that are in the exhibition. I didn't find it easy to use (that might just be me!) and the objects seemed rather randomly placed. Still, it's a nice idea.

Tomorrow, the 5th of September, will start the 5th edition of "Vesuvinum - I Giorni del Lacryma Christi", which is the most important event organised by Vesuvian wine producers.
Significantly, the opening ceremony will take place at the so-called Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana, near the 2nd c. AD Dionysiac frescoes and stuccos and next to the late antique cella vinaria. On Saturday, a small conference on Roman agriculture around Vesuvius will take place at the Medici castle in the town of Ottaviano where also a photography exhibition on the archaeological sites of Somma Vesuviana and Pollena Trocchia is set. On Saturday and Sunday, visitors can book a visit to both archaeological sites.

With this event, we hope to create a stronger connection with wine producers and work together to engage the general public in preserving and promoting this neglected area.

Phyllis Henderson just posted a question on BP's Facebook page. I repost it here so that others can see it too:

"Dear Colleagues at Blogging Pompeii,I am a PhD candidate in architectural history and theory at the University of Florida. My research is centered about the architectural constructions that existed in Pompeii (and surrounding areas) for the purpose of viewing the beautiful landscape. I am currently exploring the manner in which people perceived the natural landscape by examining the mythological, cultural and historical aspects of life in Pompeii.

I am now looking for more specific information about the “sacred grove”, the “sacred portal” and the “sacred mound or mountain” and how these particular sacred natural spaces were used and perceived by the ancient Romans. These places were represented in many mythological landscape paintings, were part of the ancient roman culture and had a significant impact on daily life in terms of ritual and ceremony. I have quite a bit of general information already, but I have not, until now, engaged this forum of experts as my research grows more specific.I would be quite indebted to anyone with any thoughts or source suggestions pertaining to this topic."

This news article has been published on the UNESCO website following a visit by their Director-General to the Vesuvian sites over the last couple of days.

The Director-General congratulates the Italian authorities for progress achieved in the conservation of the iconic World Heritage site of the Archaeological Areas of Pompei and Herculaneum.

During her visit to Naples on the occasion of the World Urban Forum
organized by UN-HABITAT, the Director-General, Irina Bokova, commended
the Italian authorities, and in particular the Municipal authorities and
Superintendency of Region for the positive emergency conservation
achievements at the World Heritage archaeological complex of Pompei,
following the collapse of walls in 2010 and 2011.

She expressed appreciation for the recruitment of 21
new and qualified technical staff to strengthen maintenance and
management at the property, as well as progress accomplished by putting
in place much-needed drainage, hydrological and restoration works, which
have been initiated under UNESCO's supervision in 44 domus on the
property.

The strengthening of cooperation and coordination
between the various stakeholders involved in the conservation of the
property - the Government of Italy, the Region and the Municipal
authorities under UNESCO's leadership -- has proved especially valuable
in making effective progress in the preservation of the archeological
areas.

The authorities informed the Director-General about
their intention to submit a preliminary report on the state of
conservation before the end of the year in compliance with the decision
of the World Heritage Committee.

The report will also provide necessary information
on updating and the implementation of the Management Plan, integrating
information on the expansion of the buffer zone, risk management
measures and an emergency interventions plan that documents needs and
addresses the pressure of tourism.

......

The Director-General also visited the World Heritage properties of
Herculaneum, where she expressed satisfaction for the Herculaneum
Conservation Project management system as a successful public-private
partnership for the conservation of the archaeological property.

I am finally back at my desk, having survived the wettest British summer since records began, and will soon resume regular Pompeii-related postings! However, I hope you will excuse this blatant misuse of the blog because I want to tell everyone that my new book (co-authored with Nigel Pollard) has just been published in the UK and will shortly be released in the USA too. The book is entitled The Complete Roman Legions and is published by Thames and Hudson. It is basically a history of each individual Roman imperial legion, but includes general sections on the Republican, Imperial and Late Antique legions too. Anyone who is interested can find more information on the Thames and Hudson website, or at Amazon: